Ups and Downs – Research Report Published #bipolar #bipolardisorder

‘Listen, empower us and take action now!’: reflexive-collaborative exploration of support needs in bipolar disorder when ‘going up’ and ‘going down’. Billsborough J, Mailey P, Hicks A, Sayers R, Smith R, Clewett N, Griffiths CA, Larsen J.

This is an article published in J Ment Health. 2014 Feb;23(1):9-14. doi: 10.3109/09638237.2013.815331.  US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24484186

This was a project I was involved with and that I will say more about soon. 

I was fortunate enough to present this work at Nottingham University in 2012, where I concluded with one thing I learned from the study. Influenced by a sister of someone with a bipolar diagnosis who I interviewed during the study this thing I learned was that a (maybe ‘the‘) key factor in recovery and long-lasting wellness is love or if not love then it is something very like love that a lot of us need.

I have to admit that perhaps only one of all the people we interviewed actually said ‘love’, it is just that with everyone interviewed telling us how much difference it made when they were ‘really’ listened to… it is seemed clear to me that something very like love from the people closest to us makes all the difference.

As I say, I will write more about this research later.

Roger